Edmonton Mayor Not Worried Despite Lack Of Funds For New Arena

Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel believes “figures from Alberta's budget Thursday show there's enough cash to fund” the proposed C$480M downtown arena, according to Angelique Rodrigues of the EDMONTON SUN. Mandel said that the funds are “still on the way Thursday, even after Finance Minister Doug Horner introduced a lean provincial budget with no funds earmarked for the project.” The mayor said that while it “may not be clear where the dollars are coming from, he's still certain help is on the way.” Mandel: “I have been reassured time and time again that the issue of the arena will be dealt with in this physical year.” Rodrigues notes it was believed that Alberta "would grant Edmonton funding for the arena in the form of Municipal Sustainability Initiative dollars.” But officials said that the fund "for the province on a whole will stay the same.” Rodrigues adds Edmonton will receive C$170M in MSI funding -- an increase of C$3M for ’13 (EDMONTON SUN, 3/8). Horner said of how the city uses the MSI funding, “That’s Edmonton’s decision. It’s not ours.” Downtown Business Association Exec Dir Jim Taylor said that the city "doesn’t need” a check for C$100M immediately, but it “just needs an assurance the money will be there over time” (EDMONTON JOURNAL, 3/8).